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05.23.09

Links 23/05/2009: Gaming, Phones, and Sub-notebooks

Posted in News Roundup at 5:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Discovery: The Ultimate Linux Device – The Kickfire Appliance

    Kickfire is having a contest where you can win a Kickfire appliance. You’ll have to compete with me, of course, and others who want to win the ultimate Linux device but we’ll all have fun doing it.

  • Statistics, Market Share, Logic, and Why There Probably Can’t Be Only One

    Operating systems aren’t immortal beings, and by rights, there can’t be (there shouldn’t be) only one. McKenzie reiterates Brian Proffitt’s take on the Freeform Dynamics report, highlighting the idea that visual artists and graphic designers generally find using Linux less appealing (or workable) than those in IT departments, or even generalized office workers.

  • Sometimes Linux is really better

    I’ve been very impressed with the latest Ubuntu and it seems that the polish goes far deeper than just the eye candy.

    Next week I’m off to Melbourne and the office lent me a nifty 3G USB wireless dongle, a Huawei model E169, supplied by Optus.

  • Events

    • Taiwan open source conference sets agenda

      An agenda has been posted for the FreedomHEC Taipei open source conference in Taiwan. Scheduled for June 10-11, the conference focuses on embedded hardware running open source Linux, and includes presentations on Linux fast-boot technology, GPL licensing, the Qi bootloader, and Coreboot.

    • Red Hat Open Source Forum

      The Red Hat Open Source Forum will explore how to carve out costs with open source technologies in the current economic climate. Taking place in London on 16 June, 2009, the full day conference, for IT professionals will feature testimony from Red Hat partners and customers on the benefits provided by open source solutions.

  • Applications

    • Ubuntu Polishes GNU Screen

      GNU Screen is a terminal multiplexer program that Linux folk have used for ages. It allows you to turn one terminal into many, and run processes even after logging out. In this article we will give a brief overview of screen usage for the uninitiated, then talk about how Ubuntu’s defaults and new screen-profiles package have taught us about new and wonderful features of screen.

    • Download Themes for Your Gnome Desktop with Gnome Art

      Gnome Art is an art website which allows you to download and install various items such as icons, backgrounds, desktop themes, login window theme and gtk engine. This website comes with a very interesting application which is in the Ubuntu repositories. If you want to install it, run this in a terminal:

    • A new feature for Krita

      Yesterday, I took a day off from serious things like redesigning the library structure of KOffice, working on the Krita part of the redesigned KOffice website, trying to optimize the hell out of freehand painting and several other things, like being too sick to actually think straight for two consecutive moments and so not making much progress with any of these things.

      I took a holiday, in short, a chance to add a nice little feature to Krita: image backgrounds.

  • Games

    • Linux MMORPG Game Engine Sees Major Update

      Regnum Online, a Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game that has a native Linux client offered by its developers (NGD Studios), has received a major overhaul. Regnum Online is one of the very few MMORPGs that has a native Linux client, but now its own game engine got a whole lot more powerful. The game engine has been reworked greatly and is now known as NG3D2.0, but later this year they already plan to introduce another major update on top of that.

    • Mystic Mine Sale

      Koonsolo is starting production on their next game, but as you might know this can be quite costly especially for a small game developer. In order to gain some funds quickly, they are doing a promotion and sell their current game ‘Mystic Mine‘ at a huge price discount!

    • Vendetta Online launches Dynamic Warfare.

      With the Friday night release, Linux-friendly space MMO Vendetta Online has launched Dynamic Warfare: a new long-term battle and large-scale warfare mechanic designed to permit factional conquest of geographical areas.

  • Desktop Environments

  • Devices/Embedded

    • UMID M1 mbook Available now in Linux and Windows XP and Both Very Pricey

      The $659.42 (Linux) and $765.78 (XP) price points won’t help its cause either. For these prices, UMID could’ve used an aluminum chassis and maybe an OLED screen and higher-capacity 32GB SSD.

    • Home media server to demo on Intel Atom platform

      At Computex, Intel and Amahi plan to demonstrate an embedded version of the latter’s Amahi Linux Home Server software designed for Intel Atom N270 processors. The open source Home Digital Assistant (HDA) will provide media sharing and backup on integrated media servers and home routers, says Amahi.

    • Phones

      • NTT DoCoMo to Releases Their First Android Phone in Japan

        Behold the HT-03A, that according to this Japanese blog (memn0ck.com) is DoCoMo’s future Android powered phone. The HT-03A running Android 1.5 Cupcake (aka HTC Magic) (Eric Lin introduced us to it on video here).

      • Panasonic to embrace open-source smartphones

        Speaking at a press conference in Japan, Keisuke Ishii, board member and director of the Mobile Terminal Business Unit at Panasonic Mobile Communications, said the company is “seriously considering developing an Android-based handset and entering overseas mobile phone markets in fiscal 2010.”

    • Sub-notebooks

      • Linux Distros For Netbooks

        Most Linux distros are suitable for netbook use. But fine-tuning your particular flavor of netbook by finding an even friendlier Linux distro isn’t too difficult. Matching up your rig’s configuration: screen size, devices, and drivers — and your own style of work and play — with the most conducive Linux distro, you’ll get the max out of your mini-laptop.

      • Et Tu, Intel? Microsoft’s Ambitions Lie Bleeding

        Intel’s new operating system, designed for cloud-computing devices like smartphones and netbooks, is a potentially fatal stab wound to Microsoft’s operating system empire.

        [...]

        Intel’s decision to develop Moblin was clearly driven by the success of smartphones and netbooks, both of which rely on the cloud to do most of the processing and storage that traditional PCs perform on the device itself. Microsoft has tried to float the idea that it will survive the obsolescence of traditional PCs and laptops because of the largely spurious idea that Windows 7 is optimized for netbooks.

Free Software/Open Source

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Steve Weber, creator of the phrase “anti-rival goods” 20 (2005)

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Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

  1. More Media Reports About Decline in Quality of European Patents (Granted by the EPO)

    What the media is saying about the letter from Grünecker, Hoffmann Eitle, Maiwald and Vossius & Partner whilst EPO communications shift attention to shallow puff pieces about how wonderful Benoît Battistelli is

  2. Beware Team UPC's Biggest Two Lies About the Unitary Patent (UPC)

    Claims that a Unified Patent Court (UPC) will commence next year are nothing but a fantasy of the Liar in Chief, Benoît Battistelli, who keeps telling lies to French media (some of which he passes EPO money to, just like he passes EPO money to his other employer)

  3. Diversity at the EPO

    Two decades of EPO with 16-17 years under the control of French Presidents (and nowadays predominantly French management in general with Inventor Award held in France almost half the time) is "diversity at the EPO"

  4. Orrin Hatch, Sponsored the Most by the Pharmaceutical Industry, Tries to Make Its Patents Immune From Scrutiny (PTAB)

    Orrin Hatch is the latest example of laws being up for sale, i.e. companies can 'buy' politicians to act as their 'couriers' and pass laws for them, including laws pertaining to patents

  5. Links 17/6/2018: Linux 4.18 RC1 and Deepin 15.6 Released

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  6. To Keep the Patent System Alive and Going Practitioners Will Have to Accept Compromises on Scope Being Narrowed

    35 U.S.C. § 101 still squashes a lot of software patents, reducing confidence in US patents; the only way to correct this is to reduce patent filings and file fewer lawsuits, judging their merit in advance based on precedents from higher courts

  7. The Affairs of the USPTO Have Turned Into Somewhat of a Battle Against the Courts, Which Are Simply Applying the Law to Invalidate US Patents

    The struggle between law, public interest, and the Cult of Patents (which only ever celebrates more patents and lawsuits) as observed in the midst of recent events in the United States

  8. Patent Marketing Disguised as Patent 'Advice'

    The meta-industry which profits from patents and lawsuits claims that it's guiding us and pursuing innovation, but in reality its sole goal is enriching itself, even if that means holding science back

  9. Microsoft is Still 'Cybermobbing' Its Competition Using Patent Trolls Such as Finjan

    In the "cybersecurity" space, a sub-domain where many software patents have been granted by the US patent office, the patent extortion by Microsoft-connected trolls (and Microsoft's 'protection' racket) seems to carry on; but Microsoft continues to insist that it has changed its ways

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  11. The EPO's Response to the Open Letter About Decline in Patent Quality as the Latest Example of Arrogance and Resistance to Facts, Truth

    Sidestepping the existential crisis of the EPO (running out of work and issuing many questionable patents with expectation of impending layoffs), the PR people at the Office choose a facts-denying, face-saving 'damage control' strategy while staff speaks out, wholeheartedly agreeing with concerned stakeholders

  12. In the United States the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Which Assures Patent Quality, is Still Being Smeared by Law Firms That Profit From Patent Maximalism, Lawsuits

    Auditory roles which help ascertain high quality of patents (or invalidate low-quality patents, at least those pointed out by petitions) are being smeared, demonised as "death squads" and worked around using dirty tricks that are widely described as "scams"

  13. The 'Artificial Intelligence' (AI) Hype, Propped Up by Events of the European Patent Office (EPO), is Infectious and It Threatens Patent Quality Worldwide

    Having spread surrogate terms like “4IR” (somewhat of a 'mask' for software patents, by the EPO's own admission in the Gazette), the EPO continues with several more terms like “ICT” and now we’re grappling with terms like “AI”, which the media endlessly perpetuates these days (in relation to patents it de facto means little more than "clever algorithms")

  14. Links 15/6/2018: HP Chromebook X2 With GNU/Linux Software, Apple Admits and Closes a Back Door ('Loophole')

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  15. The '4iP Council' is a Megaphone of Team UPC and Team Battistelli at the EPO

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  16. Grünecker, Hoffmann Eitle, Maiwald and Vossius & Partner Find the Courage to Express Concerns About Battistelli's Ugly Legacy and Low Patent Quality

    The astounding levels of abuse at the EPO have caused some of the EPO's biggest stakeholders to speak out and lash out, condemning the Office for mismanagement amongst other things

  17. IAM Concludes Its Latest Anti-§ 101 Think Tank, Featuring Crooked Benoît Battistelli

    The attack on 35 U.S.C. § 101, which invalidates most if not all software patents, as seen through the lens of a Battistelli- and Iancu-led lobbying event (set up by IAM)

  18. Google Gets Told Off -- Even by the Typically Supportive EFF and TechDirt -- Over Patenting of Software

    The EFF's Daniel Nazer, as well as TechDirt's founder Mike Masnick, won't tolerate Google's misuse of Jarek Duda's work; the USPTO should generally reject all applications for software patents -- something which a former Commissioner for Patents at the USPTO seems to be accepting now (that such patents have no potency after Alice)

  19. From the Eastern District of Texas to Delaware, US Patent Litigation is (Overall) Still Declining

    Patent disputes/conflicts are increasingly being settled outside the courts and patents that aren't really potent/eligible are being eliminated or never brought forth at all

  20. Links 13/6/2018: Cockpit 170, Plasma 5.13, Krita 4.0.4

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  21. When the USPTO Grants Patents in Defiance of 35 U.S.C. § 101 the Courts Will Eventually Squash These Anyway

    Software/abstract patents, as per § 101 (Section 101) which relates to Alice Corp v CLS Bank at the US Supreme Court, are not valid in the United States, albeit one typically has to pay a fortune for a court battle to show it because the patent office (USPTO) is still far too lenient and careless

  22. Buzzwords and Three-Letter Acronyms Still Abused by the EPO to Grant a Lot of Patents on Algorithms

    Aided by Microsoft lobbying (with its very many patent trolls) as well as corrupt Battistelli, the push for software patenting under the guise of "artificial intelligence" ("AI") carries on, boosted by Battistelli's own "Pravda" (which he writes for), IAM Magazine

  23. The United States is Far Better Off With the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), So Why Do Lawyers Attack It?

    The anti-PTAB lobby (which is basically the pro-troll or pro-litigation lobby) continues to belittle and insult PTAB, having repeatedly failed to dismantle it; in the meantime PTAB is disarming several more patent trolls and removing from the system patents which were granted in error (as well as the associated lawsuits)

  24. Links 12/6/2018: Neovim 0.3 and Wine 3.10

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  25. Corrupt Benoît Battistelli Promotes Software Patents in IAM's Patent Trolls-Funded Event in the United States

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  26. The EPO's 'Expert' Georg Weber is Still Advocating Software Patents in Europe (But He Disguises Them Using Buzzwords)

    The EPO's overzealous support for software patents continues unabated while the European Parliament looks the other way; this is part of the plan to expand patent scope in Europe and flood the continent with low-quality patents (causing a ruinous litigation boom like in China)

  27. Battistelli's EPO is Outdoing North Korea When It Comes to Propaganda and Abuses Against Staff

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  28. IPBC, a Patent Trolls-Funded Event of IAM, is Advancing the Attacks on Section 101/Alice

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  29. PTAB Carries on Undeterred and Unabated, Courts Are Becoming Less Tolerant of Low-Quality Patents

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